Page 17 of Sobek’s Joy

“I don’t think that’s how shipping works, especially out here on a weekend.”

Sobek opened the door to accept the package from a harried-looking delivery driver who definitely didn’t question why a package ordered twenty minutes ago had somehow manifested. Zeus’s network had its uses, even if Sobek would never admit that to Zeus directly.

“Okay, that’s definitely not normal,” Rudy said, staring at the box. “Did you bribe someone? Are these black market plumbing supplies?”

“Do you want running water or not?”

“Fair point.” Rudy grabbed towels from the linen closet. “I don’t care where those bits came from. Let’s fix some pipes.”

/~/~/~/~/

Two hours later, covered in joint compound and moderately humbled by the complexity of mortal plumbing, Sobek tightened the final compression fitting while Rudy held the flashlight and provided running commentary.

“Left or right?”

“You’re supposed to know this. You watched the videos.”

“I watched a man with a mustache wave a wrench around for eight minutes. That doesn’t make me Bob Vila.”

Sobek’s mouth twitched. Rudy had been chattering nonstop since they’d started, a nervous habit that Sobek found oddly endearing. Every few minutes, Rudy’s knee would brush against Sobek’s shoulder in the cramped space under the sink, and each time, Sobek’s entire focus narrowed to that point of contact.

“Okay, I think that’s it.” Sobek backed out from under the sink. “Turn on the main.”

“If this explodes and kills us both, I’m haunting you first.”

“Noted.”

Rudy disappeared down to the basement. Sobek waited, conscious of three small faces peering around the bathroom doorframe, watching his every move. Jack’s earlier episode had shaken something loose in Sobek’s carefully maintained distance. He couldn’t keep pretending these weren’t his hatchlings, his pups, his family.

And Rudy…

Water rushed through the pipes with a healthy gurgle. No leaks. No explosions.

“It worked.” Rudy bounded back upstairs, breathless and grinning. “Oh, my gods, it actually worked. We fixed it.”

“You held the flashlight.”

“I provided moral support and witty banter. That’s at least forty percent of any repair job.” Rudy tested the faucet, watching water stream into the sink with all the joy of someone watching a miracle unfold. “Seriously, though. Thank you. You saved me like, three hundred dollars and a weekend of hell.”

“You’re welcome.”

Rudy turned off the water and faced him fully, his expression soft in the bathroom’s dim light. They were close - too close for casual friendliness, near enough that Sobek could count the freckles across Rudy’s nose and see the exact moment something shifted in those blue eyes.

“Can I ask you something?” Rudy’s voice had gone quieter.

“Yes.”

“Why are you really doing all this? The fish, the plumbing, dealing with my kids and their quirks…” Rudy worried his bottom lip. “I keep waiting for the catch. For you to want something in return.”

I want everything. I want you, the little ones, and this messy, perfect life. I want to stop lying about what I am and claim you properly, so the whole world knows you’re mine.

“There’s no catch,” Sobek said instead. “I like being here.”

“With me?”

“Yes. Very much with you.”

Rudy’s cheeks flushed that pretty pink again, and Sobek watched his pulse flutter at the base of his throat.